Broken Bonds

     In front of me the moonlight cast shadows among the gravestones. They reached towards me as I ran, dodging stone and unseen monsters alike. The scent of wet grass and lightning rushed in and out of my body as my lungs threatened to collapse.

         I couldn’t die here.

         I wouldn’t die here.

         And so I ran. Away from lingering death and decay. Away from the tall, dark man who promised to bring my doom. Out of the graveyard and into a swath of trees I ran, my legs burning and lightening flashing in the overcast sky. Abruptly the darkness took me. I panicked and stopped, waiting for my vision to catch up to the sudden emptiness around me.

Except, I knew it wasn’t empty.

He was waiting for me.

If I stayed here, I would die. If I kept moving, I might die. Taking my chances I crept forward, flinching with every crinkled leaf and broken branch I stepped on. Thankfully the rain had subdued most of the sound, but I still heard him when he finally rushed into the woods behind me.

“Here, poppet, poppet, poppet,” he called. His soft voice sent tingles down my back, though I now knew from experience that he was anything but soft. Silently I cursed myself for ever trusting him.

My body stayed crouched, legs starting to cramp as I slowed my breathing to the tiniest whisper. I heard him, felt him, coming closer to me, but I willed myself not to move. If I bolted he would be on me in a few strides.

“Did I say that you could leave, poppet? Come back now and I won’t hurt you for being a bad girl,” he said. An involuntary shiver ran through me and I bit into my hand to stop from sobbing. I would not end up in his basement again, not unless I was already dead. The knife I stole from his torture table pressed into my palm. I could use it now and escape into death. Surely that would be better than what he had in store.

Abruptly his footsteps stopped. He sniffed the air.

“I can smell your fear, it reeks of desperation,” he whispered. I had the knife against my wrist, silently pleading for strength. Suddenly the woods quieted. I only noticed the bird calls, insects, and wind when they stopped. My breathing became more noticeable though I fought for control. Footsteps came closer until I knew he was damn near hovering over me. I lifted my head just as the moon shone back through the clouds. He met my eyes and a wicked smile crept over his face.

“There you are poppet. Thought you could get away? Tsk, tsk, tsk. You’re not going to get away that easily,” he said. His black eyes glittered dangerously as he bent towards me. I willed my body to move. Cut or run. Neither instruction got through as I watched his hand descend towards me. Suddenly his eyes popped up and opened wide. His mouth grew slack as he stared at something behind me.

“You again? You really enjoy these woods, don’t you? Well, I brought you a plaything. Something to satiate your morbid desires. Have fun with her,” he blabbed as he moved backwards. Though his words were full of bravado, his voice tingled with something I had never heard from him before. Fear. That tingling sensation that came into the throat and warbled words, that jellified legs and petrified the mind. He caught a branch with his foot and stumbled. With a final glance at me, at the thing behind me, he turned tail and ran.

I felt that fear as I contemplated my next step. Run, fight, or cut – first I had to know what I was dealing with. As slowly and as quickly as I could manage, I turned my head to face the darkness. A black mass stood before my eyes, the moonlight playing tricks with it’s swirling outline. It was skinny and tall, all angles and wrongly bent joints. Though I was ten feet from it, I couldn’t tell if it had a face or any recognizable body parts.

All plans that I may have had went straight out the door. The thing is all I could focus on as it ambled closer. I sensed curiosity about it. A sense of longing, almost.

Blood. I heard the word clearly, but the air never carried the vibration.

“Wh-what?” I asked, my voice breathless and scratchy.

Blood. Blood. BLOOD. It demanded, the presence pounding through my head. But I didn’t feel in danger. Yes, this thing was immensely dangerous, but it wasn’t threatening me. It wanted something else. Something close by.

“What do you want?” I whispered. A long, misshapen arm reached out and pointed behind me, towards where the man had run.

BLOOD! It shouted. The raspy vibration in my mind shivered through me.

“You want to kill him?” I asked. A pleased feeling swept over me, tainted oil in a bed of sunflowers. This thing wasn’t good, but right now it didn’t want to kill me, so I went with it.

“What do you want from me?” I asked. Images flashed through my head. The woods, the graveyard, the dirt road leading to a ramshackle house, a door with a goat’s skull above it, a shrine worshipping the Devil, and a bone carved with symbols and ancient words. A sensation filled me, a feeling of tearing apart, of breaking. An old pain that could only be fixed by being broken.

“You want me to destroy that bone?” I whispered.

Yes. Yes. YES. The sound bounced around my head and I felt a wave of pleasure coming from the creature. It’s twisted features were becoming easier to see in the dim light and I swore I saw it smile.

“I destroy that bone, and you’ll kill that man?” I clarified.

YES! It screamed shrilly.

“Deal,” I said, a wicked smile graced my lips as an image of that mad man ripped apart and pleading ran through my mind.

***

The Original stood there and swore the words of Rite. Pleasure rippled through my distorted form as I felt the beginning of Revenge. Too long I have stood by and watched the Binder forge his evil. Once and for all he would be destroyed by that which he wrought with his own hands.

The Original finished the chant and opened itself to me. I flooded in, bringing power and ferocity, filling every crevice it had to offer and still my awesomeness could not fit. It was not the best vessel, but this one had the strength of will to accept me and not be decimated.

Come, I said in it’s mind. Destroy.

It began to run, pulling me along in a tide of fury. It’s strength powered by my own, we did not tire as we sought the path to the place of Beginning. It paid no heed to the gravestones Marking the dead, plowing through them and leaving only crumbles of dust behind. Picking up speed we flew down the road, darkness reaching behind and swallowing the sight. The disheveled house came into view and pleasure roared through us. The Original held nothing back, it’s anger and hatred matching mine as we slowed to a stop.

“We will enjoy this,” we said together, the words Binding and bringing us closer still. We reached the door and plucked the goat’s skull from it’s place, crushing it to powder with ease. Then we knocked. The sound shook the building and puffs of dirt rose from the decayed boards. The door opened.

“Come back, have we poppet? What, even the Remade didn’t want you?” said the man, a smirk adorning his face. I felt a flash of fear from my vessel, but I quickly subdued it with hunger, Vengeance.

“We have come, Jack,” we said. His eyes widened in fear and he stumbled back into the house.

“You… you can’t hurt me. You know you can’t hurt me. I Made you! I have protection!” he shouted, his voice shaking. We laughed. It’s high voice melded to my deep voice in a rumbling thunder that shattered all of the glass in the house. We stepped inside together, watching him scramble for his shrine. He grabbed the bone and waved it in front of us.

“You can’t touch this! He has given me His protection and. You. Cannot. Touch. Me!” he shrieked as we giggled together. We glided closer and reached out our hand, clasping it over his and shattering his bones. His shrill cry was pure pleasure to our ears. We plucked the thigh bone from his broken hand and turned it in our fingers, delighting in the smooth symbols etched deep within its grain.

“My thigh bone, pulled from me near Death,” we said, my thoughts slid back to the days of Beginning. My vessel shook at the pain I felt, it’s sympathy melding into my anger. We traced a symbol with our thumb. “Life,” we rumbled. Another symbol. “Death.” Another. “Eternity.” Another. “Rest.”

“Forsake this soul in Life, release it from it’s Death, bind this soul Eternal, but never let it Rest,” we chanted. Around us I could feel cold seeping into this forsaken house, and we smiled.

“The rest of your Children are here,” we rumbled. The man’s face was white in agony as he clutched his hand and stared in terror. “Now I will free them, to torture you as you tortured us,” we laughed and stepped up to the shrine. More bones littered it, human bones of every shape and size. All had runes and words of binding etched into them.

One hand reverently tucked my Bond bone into a pocket. Carefully we plucked another from its rest and destroyed it. A shrieking spirit rushed past us, pummeling the man on the floor. One by one we destroyed the cursed items, and one by one the freed spirits took their revenge until we were left all alone with the object of our hatred. The man before us aged with every soul that passed through him, now he was a trembling old man shaking like a leaf caught in a hurricane.

“Just kill me and get it over with,” he coughed feebly.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You’re not going to get away that easily,” we said, words from a lifetime ago ghosting into the present. He had said that, to every single one of us that he claimed and Remade.

Kneeling down beside him, we reached with powerful fingers into his leg and withdrew a bone. The snapping sound pleased our ears, as did the scorching cries he made. We grabbed his engraving tool and took our time etching the Words I have wanted to bind him with since I was Reborn. He lay there, his life ebbing away, as we memorized this moment. Satisfied with our work, we snared him with our gaze.

“You who have sought Eternal life will now bear the pleasure of receiving it,” we snarled.

“No! Please, just kill me!” he pleaded.

“Forsake this soul in Life, release it from it’s Death, bind this soul Eternal, but never let it Rest,” we spoke as he screamed and writhed. “Chain this soul to Earth, bear it without Breath, take the water from it’s Blood, and never shall it Rest.” He screamed louder. “Make this pact Forever, bone encased in Time, never to be Broken, paying always for it’s Crime.”

The bloodcurdling scream rose higher as the curse bound him to life, without body, to suffer forever. The smell of brimstone and rotten flesh crept up from the altar and a booming voice shook the building.

“Bahahaha. I see the Binder has become the Bound. Welcome, Jack, to Eternal life,” the Devil said.

“No, please! I’ll serve you! Forever!” he pleaded.

“Yes, yes you will,” the Devil chuckled and vanished in a puff of smoke.

“Now, for our last piece of business,” we said as Jack began to fade. We pulled the bone from our pocket. “Thank you,” I said to the Original before we snapped the bone and I finally sank into blissful peace.

***

I pulled down the dusty dirt road to the address I heard from the scanner. Some neighbors were complaining about a noise disturbance, which, in these parts, normally meant an old redneck with a chipmunk problem. I shook my head as I rounded a corner, not expecting the burning wreck I saw in front of me.

“Holy shit,” I said as I grabbed my radio. “Red Top calling from Shader’s Road, we’ve got a 904b over here, repeat, a 904b. Looks like an explosion went off at Schaffer’s house. I need backup, a firetruck, and an ambulance stat. I’m going to check it out. Repeat, I’m going to check it out,” I said.

“10-4 Red Top. Be careful out there, backup is ten minutes out,” the dispatcher said back.

“Probably just a meth lab explosion,” I said to myself as I stepped out of the car. Pieces of the house lay scattered everywhere, but the fire was centralized to the building. The heat was intense and kept me back, but the sucker had probably been burning for at least a few hours by the look of it.

“Anybody in there?” I called out, scanning the wreckage for any signs of life. A blast went up, smoke pouring into the sky. For a moment, it looked like a face. A demonic, twisted human face.

Then I heard a scream from inside the building. “Oh fuck,” I said as I ignored my self preservation instincts and ran for the house. The smoke clogged my view as I fought my way inside. In the middle of what once was the living room I saw her, a young girl standing on the only unburnt part of the floor. Actually, there was a circle where she was standing. My addled brain shoved the thought aside and rushed to her. Without a word I hoisted her onto my shoulder and ran from the building, collapsing on the other side of the road, both of us coughing up our lungs.

“Are you okay, miss? Any injuries?” I asked her once I got my breath back. She nodded, but I looked her over anyways. Not a single burn spot that I could see, just some singeing in her hair.

“I’ll be right back, you stay here, okay?” I got confirmation from her before running back to my car.

“This is Red Top, just found a survivor in the building. She looks fine, but I request medical attention immediately. Repeat, medical attention immediately,” I said.

“Copy Red Top, ambulance is five minutes out,” the dispatcher said. I walked back over to the girl, she was curled up around her legs and shaking.

“Are you alright, miss?” I asked. She nodded though tears streaked down her face. “My name is Officer Rodney Bricker. What’s your name?”

“R…Rose. Rose Halloway,” she coughed.

“That’s good. Rose, there’s an ambulance on the way, we’re going to get you some help and make sure you’re not hurt. Can you tell me what happened here? Was there anyone else in the house?” I asked. She stared right at me and a bit of a smile crept up her lips before disappearing. I shook my head.

“N-no, I was the only Person in there,” she whispered. Of course she hadn’t smiled. This woman just escaped a near-death experience. It must be the smoke getting to me.

“Okay, Rose. Do you remember what happened?” I asked. She stared blankly before shaking her head.

“No… I just remember walking down the road and seeing this house. I was going to explore, it looked abandoned. But then… I don’t know what happened, the house just exploded,” she started sobbing into her arms.

“It’s alright, Rose. You don’t have to worry anymore. Did you see a man? That house belonged to Mr. Jack Schaffer, did you see him?” I asked, patting her shoulder lightly. She looked up at me with a ghost of a grin on her face again, but gone just as quickly.

“No, I didn’t see a Person in there,” she said. There was a certain eerie quality to her voice that sent a shiver down my spine.

“Okay, Rose. Would you like some water?” I offered. She nodded her head and curled back up into a ball as I went to grab some from the car.

“Freaking town with freaking weird people,” I muttered to myself as I grabbed a bottle of water and headed back. I stopped myself from handing it to her when I caught her whispers.

“He’ll never hurt anyone again,” she said over and over to herself.

“Uhm, Rose? Who will never hurt anyone again?” I asked. She looked up at me and grinned, an odd gleam lighting her eyes.

“No One,” she said reaching for the bottle of water. I gave it to her and stepped back as I waited for the backup to arrive. Her words kept echoing in my head and I couldn’t concentrate as the ambulance took Rose away, as the firemen doused the house, and as I drove back to my station. I gave my statement the best I could as fellow officers chuckled at my pale face and asked if I had seen a ghost.

The official report states the explosion started with a gas leak and ignited because of faulty wiring. But the report didn’t mention the human face I saw in the smoke, or the unburnt circle I found Rose in. It didn’t mention it because I never told anyone.

For the next few months, all I could think about was the wicked look on Rose’s face, her haunting words, and the abnormal events that happened on Shader’s Road. We never did find anyone else in the wreckage, even in the collapsed basement. We also never heard from Jack Schaffer again.